SecondTale
by scironex
Summary: Undertale is a game about second chances. Let's give one to the character who needs it most. (Now hosted at AO3: /works/6717109/chapters/15360796 )
1. Prelude

One strike. All it took was one strike. Frisk continued down the golden hall, plowing straight through the pile of dust the skeleton had left. They walked into a room with a leafy floor and chirping birds. This king of monsters was the last thing that stood in their way. One strike. The flower saved them the work of crushing the SOUL. It didn't save itself, though. Nothing now stood in their way.

"Greetings."

Frisk had never seen a human face. Most blind people haven't. The fallen child, however, had seen themselves many times - More than enough times to project themselves at Frisk.

"I am Chara." The child's presence was chilling. Rather, it would have been, if Frisk had chosen another path. This was not that Frisk. This Frisk was not scared of the child who had lent their help several dozen times over. They were almost excited, almost in the same way they were to fight Sans.

"Your power awakened me from death. My 'human soul.' My 'determination.' They were not mine, but _yours_. At first, I was so confused. Our plan had failed, hadn't it? Why was I brought back to life?" The child's musings were like ice. Any sane human would have been on edge. "You. With your guidance, I realized the purpose of my reincarnation. Power. Together, we eradicated the enemy and became strong. HP. ATK. DEF. GOLD. EXP. LV. Every time a number increases, that feeling… That's me. 'Chara'. Now. Now, we have reached the absolute. There is nothing left for us here. Let us erase this pointless world, and move on to the next."

"No." Against the odds, emotion stirred in the red human. "That's not why I'm here."

Chara's smile twitched. "No…?"

"How curious. You must have misunderstood." Their face shifted. " _Since when were you the one in control?"_

One strike. One strike, and the red human fell.

They weren't ready to give up, though. They returned, and they stared into the void until it stared back.

"Interesting."

The child's voice ripped through the darkness in a painful echo.

"You want to go back."

Frisk didn't feel betrayed.

"You want to go back to the world you destroyed."

"That was not what I wanted."

"And yet you were the one who pushed everything to its edge. You led the world to its destruction."

"I only wanted to return to the surface."

Someone else might have sworn they heard a laugh. Frisk heard an offer.

"Perhaps… We can reach a compromise. You still have something I want."

Frisk felt their heart jump in their chest.

"Give it to me. You will give me your SOUL. And I will bring this world back."

Frisk hadn't felt fear since the first time they fell into the mountain.

"What are you?"

This time, Frisk didn't hear an offer.

" _I am the demon who comes when you call my name."_

"Then I suppose that would make me an angel." A third voice broke through the darkness.

Frisk could feel a jolt of panic that wasn't their own. "Who are _you_?" Chara spat.

"I just told you." Their next words were directed at Frisk.

"So."

"This was your doing." This third voice was smiling. "Was it worth it?"

Frisk did not respond. The 'angel' did not wait for them.

"This child is not incorrect. You are the reason you are standing here.

"Yet, it is not my place to make judgement. I have another offer. This is the fate you chose for yourself. If you promise me that you will try to find a way to change it, then I will set it all back at no cost.

"The choice is yours."

" _Don't you dare!"_

Frisk had torn through over a hundred monsters. Their will had bested even the cold grip of death. This demon - this naive child - would not stand in their way.

Frisk dared.


	2. Motif

Frisk woke up on a bed of flowers. They felt much the same as they had the first time. Terror coursed through their veins, without any LV to filter it out. Like last time, though, Frisk held it back and stood up. This was their second chance? They had to return to the surface; If they did not- They crushed the thought. Nothing could stand in their way. It was Frisk's power - Frisk's LV - that had awoken Chara. This time, they would not gain that power.  
There was a slight breeze coming from behind them. Frisk followed it down to the room where they met Flowey. The first time, Frisk had been too panicked to do anything but stand, confused. This time, they were wiser. They moved out of the way of his bullets. The flower was puzzled for a few seconds, but quickly cottoned on.

"You know what's going on here, don't you? You just wanted to see me suffer."

"Of course we did, you obnoxious git." Frisk felt the same voice that had torn through their head in New Home. It was furious, and not just at Flowey.

Toriel appeared exactly when she was supposed to. The same flame struck the same flower. Frisk walked into the Ruins.

"This isn't right," Frisk thought. "Shouldn't Flowey remember what I did?"

"Oh, that's rich. NOW you concede that it was your doing."

"I killed the monsters, yes. I needed to get to the surface, and they were in my way. You were the one who wanted to erase everything." In someone else's mouth, those words might have been peppered with scorn. Frisk was not someone else.

They stopped and took a deep breath, inhaling determination like the smell of spring flowers. Chara remembered an old garden. All Frisk smelled was dust - Rot and mildew infecting the wreck of a familiar place. Frisk, LV 1.

In the next room, Toriel explained nature of the Ruins. It was littered with relics of the monsters' bygone fears. Puzzles and traps littered the Ruins in a vain attempt to thwart any invading humans. Frisk followed the old woman into the next room.

"What are you going to do about her this time?" A lever clicked into place. A mother expressed praise.

"I'll strike her down." The words felt cold in Frisk's head. Why had a simple turn of the clock made them so much more vulnerable?

"Do you mean to say that you will simply repeat your past path?" Chara was sneering.

Frisk walked up to the dummy, but didn't spare it any conversation. Toriel commended their talent at running away.

"No. I don't need that power." Their hatred might have been lost in the reset. Their skill had not. And they couldn't let Chara gain their LV.

A Froggit approached them. Frisk ignored it and walked on.

"So you are just going to flee from everyone? Are you just going to try to budge past her? I guess you never tried asking politely, so maybe that will work." Chara gave the same laugh they had given to a child 19 LV higher.

"If she stands in my way, I will strike her down. Nobody will stand in my path."

Frisk wasn't even sure if the spikes receding into the floor were real. They yielded before any feet came near to touching them, and returned only once they were much clear. If the humans truly did wish to finish off the monsters, these would hardly hold them back.

"Well, I'll be sure to watch. I don't want to miss it when you die."

Chara's remark didn't receive much more attention than the monsters Frisk fled from. Neither did the familiar puzzles. They soon came across Napstablook.

"What are you going to do now? You cannot just run away! You are going to have to fight!"

Frisk didn't respond. They frowned at the familiar fight, but then patiently smiled.

"Did you hear about the seismologist who lived near the ocean? I heard their work is really making waves."

The ghost chuckled at that, and showed Frisk something of their own - They called it "Dapper Blook." The human threw him a compliment, which the ghost was not expecting. He let them pass.

"You didn't even know what it looked like!" Chara screamed.

"I thought it looked like a top hat."

They were confused. "Are you not blind?"

"I am. The hat was made out of magic."

"But you'd still need functioning eyes to see it?!" Chara was convinced that Frisk was being difficult.

"Why would I need to use my eyes to see magic? Isn't it an extension of the soul?"

"Yes, but you are not able to just see souls!"

"You… aren't?"

"Of course not, you idiot! I- You-!" Chara huffed at the other child. Frisk was the confused one now.

"How did you think I was dodging the bullets?" Chara was dumbfounded. They found themselves outside of Toriel's house. She fussed over the unharmed human, led them to their room, then attended to her soon burnt pie. Frisk steeled themselves for the coming trial. The house did smell like flowers - though it smelled more like pie - but that didn't stop Frisk from smelling mold. Frisk, LV 1.

"So you can see magic and souls. That is a very unusual trait." Chara's intrigue had abated their fury. "How long have you been able to do this?"

"Always. I thought everyone could." Not that it had been much help. Walls and floors didn't emit soul power, and being surrounded by colorful hearts didn't really help Frisk with navigation. Nor did it help them find the bed, which they promptly tripped into. Frisk let their exhaustion lure them to sleep. Minutes later, they woke up with a pie on the floor.

"This is it, then, Frisk." Chara's voice had turned quiet. They walked into the room with the fireplace. Toriel again had to go do something. Frisk followed. "I am not stupid enough to believe you can't do it, but why do you need to go to the surface? There are just a bunch of terrible humans up there." Chara would have been looking away, had they had a body. Frisk prepared an answer, but didn't get to say it.

"Oh, wait. You're one of those terrible humans yourself. Ha ha ha." A moment of distress was quickly covered up. A ninth child was set to become a mother's seventh and last failure.

Frisk's determination wavered as they walked down the chilling hallway to the end of the Ruins. Last time, they possessed a powerful contempt of Toriel. She was in their way. One strike. Now? Frisk couldn't help but notice the empty picture frame. The disarray of shoes. The wardrobe full of clothes that couldn't possibly fit someone of her size. Frisk knew they could kill a monster in their way. They weren't sure they could kill a mother.

The child reached the end of a tunnel. Toriel didn't beg one more human for the redemption she so desperately needed. Chara went utterly silent. A flower quietly thought "Kill or be killed" to itself. The stage was set for the first tragic mistake.

Frisk didn't feel fear. Not the way they had when they fell into the mountain. They still hesitated. Toriel did not. Every nerve in her body was screaming at her to not hurt this poor child any more. Every nerve in Frisk's was screaming at them to give up. Every nerve except one.

"Do not flee," Chara's voice rang into their ear. "You are determined to return to the surface. Do not back down now."

If Frisk had a nerve to spare, they might have dodged sooner. They might have also noticed that Chara no longer showed any hesitation.

"Can you show mercy without fighting or running away…? You must, if you wish to accomplish your goal." Powerful courage, like fire, coursed through Frisk: The searing, unrelenting courage that eschews passion and discards self-preservation. Chara's courage.

Frisk held their ground. Their body's tension vanished just in time to avoid another volley of fire. They wouldn't fight. Neither would Toriel stand in their way.

"You don't have to do this!" The first time a human child told that to her, she had cried. This time, she spat words that burned as hot as her magic.

"Fight me or run away."

"I will not!"

"Stop it. Stop looking at me that way." Frisk noticed Toriel miss a beat. "Go away!"

Chara's voice sounded out. "She's scared, Frisk. More scared than you've ever been."

"We do not have to fight!" Frisk shouted. Toriel faltered. Her very magic protested against her will. She couldn't let another one die. But she could no longer bear to try and scare them. She sent a barrage of magical fireballs that couldn't possibly have hit the child. That was the last bit of magic she could muster.

A lesser woman - or perhaps a greater one - would have broken down crying. Toriel simply made a plea that she might have one last chance to undo all her mistakes.

"I know you want to go back home… But please go upstairs now. I promise I will take good care of you here."

"You've won, Frisk." Chara thought they hid their relief from the other child.

"Why are you making this so difficult?"

"I have to, Toriel. I'm sorry."

"Ha… ha… Pathetic, is it not? I cannot save even a single child."

Frisk didn't know what to say.

"No, I understand. You would just be unhappy trapped down here. The Ruins are very small once you get used to them. It would not be right for you to grow up in a place like this.

"My expectations... My loneliness... My fear… For you, my child, I will put them aside. If you truly wish to leave the Ruins, I will not stop you. However, when you leave… Please do not come back. I hope you understand."

A large pair of arms wrapped around Frisk, swirling the scent of cinnamon and butterscotch around them. To one child, it was the smell of home. To another, it was the smell of loss. Both were reminded of their strength.

"Goodbye, my child."

Toriel left the child, and silently prayed that they might save themselves where she had failed.

Frisk and Chara travelled down the path that awaited them. Neither of them were in the mood to humor the Flowey they met at the end.

"So you were able to save the life of a single per- Where are you going?"

"Forward," replied Frisk.

"I wasn't finished yet! COME BACK HERE!" As a flower, Flowey was rooted to the ground. Thus, they weren't quite fast enough to chase the human down, much to their chagrin.

Their voice, however, stuck in Chara's mind. Or, rather, the part of Frisk's mind that Chara had commandeered. It sounded familiar in a way that they couldn't quite place and would continue to haunt them for far longer than the chilly hallway.

Frisk put their hand up to the door in front of them. It was frozen to the touch. There would be no turning back from here. The door slid open, almost too easily. They stepped through into… snow? While they were prodding the ground with their foot, a loud grinding could be heard from behind. The door had shut.


End file.
